


xxvi. hypothermia

by icymapletree



Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [12]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Febufluff, Fluff, Gen, Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22918282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icymapletree/pseuds/icymapletree
Summary: They go up to the cash register and pay for their drinks. Peter yelps when Tony hands him his slushie from the counter. “That’s so cold! I’m gonna get hypothermia!”“You are not going to get hypothermia.” He shakes his head, kids can be so dramatic sometimes. But then Tony takes a sip of his slushie and winces. “You know what, thisispretty cold.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: febuwhump/febufluff 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618837
Comments: 8
Kudos: 139





	xxvi. hypothermia

“I’m thirsty,” Peter whines, draped over a chair in the lab. 

Tony, who’s hunched over a broken repulsor glove, rolls his eyes. “Then go get some water.”

They have a mini fridge in the lab for god’s sake, the kid could get himself some water if he wanted it.

“It’s a different kind of thirsty.”

“Oh yeah?” Tony says while holding a screwdriver in his mouth, “Are you talking in teenage slang? Should I be catching the double meaning here?”

He’s not that old. He knows what Tik Tok is.

“No, no, I’m not _thirsty._ I’m thirsty.”

Still, teenagers confuse him sometimes. Even lovable ones that defy the majority.

“Those are different?”

“ _Yes,_ ” Peter insists. “It’s a thirst that can only be quenched by a slushie.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It totally does.” Peter hops up from his stool. “You know when you eat chocolate, or peanut butter-- or both!-- and water doesn’t quite do it for you, so you need to drink milk?”

“No.”

“Well, I do.” Peter purses his lips. “It’s kind of like that.”

Tony uses the screwdriver to tighten a screw attached to what he is working on. Peter looks at him eagerly, the kid’s whole body like a wound up spring. He can never deny the kid what he wants, but he likes to see the passion that glows in Peter's eyes.

“So, a craving?”

“I don’t think so,” he says, but then he nods a couple moments later. “Actually, yeah, kind of. But it’s like, I’ll be the same amount of thirsty until I get one.”

Tony brushes his hands off on his pants. “Well, why don’t we go blend some ice and like, a soda or something? That’ll make a slushie, right?”

“It’s not the same. It’s gotta come from a _bodega,_ Mr. Stark.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Peter nods. “It’s not the same kind of carbonation when we make it at home, you know?”

He’d buy the kid a whole slushie machine if it means making him happy. But he just sighs as Peter’s face drops. “Let me finish this up, _and then_ we’ll go out and get slushies.”

Peter’s excited nodding is enough to make Tony not regret this. 

“Go put on your sweatshirt, it’s chilly.”

Peter regards Tony hesitantly. “You sound like May,” he comments before bounding up the stairs.

Tony fondly shakes his head, making a few changes to the glove before fetching his coat from the closet. Peter comes down the stairs at the same time, wearing an MIT sweatshirt that Tony is certain is his.

“Where’d you find that?”

“Your room,” Peter shrugs with a smirk.

“You’ll return it this time, right?” 

“No promises.”

Tony shakes his head, but once again, it’s fond. Is it bad that he’s happy that the kid has more of an attitude now? Their playful banter doesn’t fizzle out like it used to - it seems like it could continue on forever. 

He inspects the sweatshirt a little closer than he had before. “You know, I don’t even know where that one came from. It might be Rhodey’s.”

“Dude, that makes it even cooler.”

Tony rolls his eyes. “C’mon, _dude,_ let’s go before it gets too cold outside.”

Peter nods and begins to head toward the elevator, Tony following behind him. The kid presses the button for the ground floor, then spends a long few moments blinking up at the ceiling.

“What’s going in that big head of yours?”

“Nothing,” Peter says quickly.

“I find that hard to believe. There’s always something up there.” 

Peter’s absolutely brilliant, there’s always some invention or web fluid formula floating around in his mind.

He considers Tony for a moment. “Promise you won’t think I’m dumb?”

“I could never think that you’re dumb, kid.”

Heck, if anyone were to ask him, Tony would say that Peter is the smartest person he knows. Smarter than himself or even Banner - because Peter understands _people_.

“Fine. Fine. I was thinking about what sitting on the ceiling of the elevator would be like.”

Regardless of how smart Peter is, Tony realizes that children’s minds are complex in a way he will never understand. “Why don’t you try it?”

Peter looks up at the ceiling like he _really_ wants too, but he just nods. “Another time,” he says.

Tony nods back. “Another time.”

They wave to the doorman on their way out, and when they go through the revolving door, Peter’s eyes light up at all of the fall colors. The kid has the mind of a photographer, always organizing the next perfect shot.

He can’t imagine what the inside of Peter’s head looks like, with his insane vision that’s always putting everything in frame even if it’s three miles away. The wind makes their walk brisk, and it’s silent except for the sounds of New York traffic and the light blow of the wind.

It’s a comfortable silence, one that’s reminiscent of when they work companionably in the lab. He knows which bodega Peter wants to go to - he doesn’t even have to ask. Peter has loyalty to Mr. Delmar, even if he’s a borough away.

 _It’s just a quick swing, Mr. Stark, no matter where I am in the city,_ he’d say when Tony asked him why he goes so far to get gummy worms. 

Peter does a little skip, which makes Tony jerk his head in the kid’s direction. “You alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter breathes, “I’m just _happy_ , y’know?”

He looks at Peter, and _yes,_ he does know. “Yeah, I think so.”

Like nothing ever happened, Peter keeps walking. They’re back to that blissful silence, until Peter smiles. “We’re almost there,” he says, speeding up.

Tony speeds up with him, ignoring the creaking of his joints and the protests of his knees. They’re laughing and cheering, busy being ignored by the locals. They’ve seen weirder than Tony Stark and his teenage intern running through the streets - after all, it is New York.

“I see it!” Peter shouts, and stops abruptly out front of the store. Tony’s chest is heaving, his body aching from all of the rapid movement, but Peter is all smiles and glistening eyes. 

The kid opens the door and the chime sounds, Mr. Delmar looking up from behind the counter with a wide grin.

“Good afternoon, Peter.” He looks at Tony and nods. “Mr. Stark.”

“Mr. Delmar,” Tony nods back as Peter rushes up to pet Murphy. Tony stands at a respectful distance away from the cat - he’d never had much luck with them.

“How was your math test?” Mr. Delmar asks.

“Thank you for asking! It went really well - I’m pretty good at Pythagorean identities.”

“He’s underselling himself.” Tony ruffles Peter’s hair. “Got over one hundred percent.”

“ _Mr. Stark._ ”

“What? It’s true.”

The kid doesn’t brag for himself enough, so someone’s gotta do it for him. His intelligence isn’t something that can be seen like his Spider-Man abilities, if he doesn’t tell anyone, they won’t know.

Peter snorts. “I’d disown you if you weren’t buying me a slushie.”

“What? You can’t-- disown me. That breaks the rules.”

“I didn’t hear about any rules. Do the rules say that you can disown me?”

If they did, he wouldn’t, and he hopes Peter knows that. Without Peter in his life, everything wouldn’t be as bright.

“No, but they do say that we’ll get caught out on the streets at night if we don’t hurry up.”

Peter rolls his eyes, but starts walking toward the slushie machine. He takes two sixteen ounce cups, but Tony waves a hand at that. 

“You can get thirty-two if you want.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to be a burden--”

“You’re never a burden. Treat yourself, kid.”

Peter smiles, sliding a thirty-two ounce cup off of the stack. 

“What flavor do you want, Mr. Stark? They’re got Mountain Dew, Coke, cherry, and blue raspberry.”

“Surprise me.”

“You trust me enough to do that?”

Tony would trust Peter with his life, but he doesn’t say that. “Of course.” Tony closes his eyes. “You can do it now, my eyes are closed.”

When he re-opens them, there’s a mixture of every flavor in both cups. 

“You chose this mess for yourself, too?”

“Of course I did. It’s good.”

They go up to the cash register and pay for their drinks. Peter yelps when Tony hands him his slushie from the counter. “That’s so cold! I’m gonna get hypothermia!”

“You are not going to get hypothermia.” He shakes his head, kids can be so dramatic sometimes. But then Tony takes a sip of his slushie and winces. “You know what, this _is_ pretty cold.”

“You know how my freaky genetics are, Mr. Stark. If you say it’s cold, we’ve gotta be careful. Remember, I _hibernated_ once.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Sure,” Peter snorts, taking a big sip of his drink. “Ack, brain freeze.” 

He smiles from behind his straw. “That’s what you get.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Peter tilts his head back and forth, rolling his eyes. 

Tony wishes that it could be like this forever, simple pleasures like bodega slushies - but they both know that they don’t lead simple lives. It has to come to an end at some point. Peter’s gotta continue to change the world. 

“What do you say we head home, huh?”

“Sounds good to me. The sugar rush should kick in soon, then I’ll _really_ be able to get some work done.”

“I can’t wait.”

Tony smiles, he really _can’t_ wait - any time spent with Peter is good time. He should really follow after the Peter, he’s already out the door by the time Tony turns around. He says goodbye to Mr. Delmar and pushes open the door - but as he’s about to get hit by the sharp fall air, Mr. Delmar calls his name.

“You know that you’re really good for the kid, right?”

Tony’s heart melts, he _does_ feel like he has a good impact on the kid - but then he thinks about it. 

“Thank you, but I really think he’s the one who’s good for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> i really love this one. it started off kind of crack-ish but then i switched gears and think it's fairly realistic.
> 
> thank you for reading! come talk to me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/icymapletree)
> 
> kudos and comments are always appreciated (:


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